But more important was the issue of the secret ballot, also being considered. Presently, a person desiring to vote in the Democratic primary and then switch to the Republican ticket in the fall election had to announce out loud his preference for a Republican ballot, informally nullifying his vote as it would be duly noted by the whites of the Democratic Party at the polling place. Most Republicans were black.

Ironically, the forces favoring the secret ballot were now those who wanted to keep the election the province of whites for the reason that they felt abandoned by the national Democratic Party. Thus, they wanted to free South Carolinians to vote for a national Republican ticket in the fall while preserving the state Democratic structure in the primary, a realistic possibility with so few voting in the general election. But it was a tightrope walk because the fear was that the Republican Party would give the franchise to blacks and thus potentially end the grip of the Democratic Party in state politics.

The South Carolina Democrats now found themselves boxed in by their own rules, tied to a national party which they believed no longer represented their interests—that is, first, foremost, and last, segregation, and its concomitant, states' rights.

One piece tied the current hip phrase "Hubba-Hubba" to the progress of the human spirit, calling it an expression of delight, similar to Doubting Thomas's "My Lord and my God". The editorial then quotes what it asserts was a well-phrased paragraph on the topic.

It expected the publication to be well received by Baptists throughout the South.

The "yes-men" from Missouri, from which Mr. Hannegan also hailed, were those attracting the ear of Mr. Truman, even though he remained a close friend to Mr. Hannegan, who had been instrumental in getting Harry Truman on the ticket with FDR in 1944.

During the current week, Mr. Hannegan had told the President he would have to force U.S. Steel to grant a decent wage to the steel workers to avert a strike. He had tangled repeatedly with Reconverter John Snyder, and wanted to clean house among the White House staff.

Mr. Pearson next imparts of an exchange at a cocktail party given by the wife of South Carolina Senator Burnet Maybank at which broadcaster James Crowley was attending. When a man stepped up to Mr. Crowley and said, "I'm Butler Hare," he responded that he would have a scotch and soda. Mrs. Maybank politely informed Mr. Crowley that Mr. Hare was the Congressman from South Carolina, not the butler. Mr. Crowley laughed, as did Mr. Hare, and Mr. Crowley offered then to get Mr. Hare a scotch and soda. Mr. Hare told him that he did not drink.

Finally, Mr. Pearson provides the verbatim transcript of the exchange between Secretary of War Robert Patterson and G.I. newsmen at a press conference at which Mr. Patterson was caught not knowing that discharge point accumulation had ended on September 2, at the time of the formal signing of the treaty of surrender by Japan. Mr. Patterson had assumed that men overseas were still being awarded two points per month. The reporters confided that Mr. Patterson had answered all the other questions candidly and to the best of his ability.

The solution to the problems appeared to be within the marketplace, "in a more whole-souled approach to collective bargaining." It was likely that a solution would be found sooner provided the notion was abandoned that Congress would take the initiative.

Ms. Thompson finds fault with the contrasting American approach of leaving occupation to the experts without even imparting to the people who the experts were or the object of their policies. The British Zone Review provided detailed information on the British Zone, but no such information existed for the American Zone.

She wonders what the American policy was toward German trade unions and whether the American labor contentions were correct, that Sidney Hillman had framed the policy and was blocking the creation of independent unions in Germany to prevent Social Democratic leaders from regaining a vestige of authority, and that the pattern of labor should be set by the Russian Zone. There were also assertions from labor that American Communists or sympathizers were being placed in influential positions and that only the extreme leftist anti-Nazis in Germany were being utilized in the occupation, while those from the middle class underground during the war were being ignored. It was also rumored that a revolt was occurring among the German anti-Nazi religious leaders, who did not want to exchange one form of despotic rule for another, that of Russia.

Ms. Thompson asserts that she was not making these inquiries to imply charges but simply giving voice to questions arising from assertions made by other reliable Americans, and underscoring the need for information to confirm or dispute these claims. She believes that the lack of information in part was the reason for the dissatisfaction of American troops, for while German respect for the British was rising, it was diminishing for Americans.

The editors note that Mr. Hall had the "left hook" coming and were glad that it had been delivered so effectively.